Autobiography

Jlin

Autobiography - Excellent, Based on 5 Critics

Resident Advisor - 82Based on rating 4.1/5

82

Jlin's music draws from footwork, a style that emerged from Chicago dance culture. But ever since the age of six, when her mother introduced her to the School Of Alvin Ailey, she's been drawn more to the ballet than to the club. The first ballet she saw live was one she had also composed the music for: Autobiography, a contemporary-dance production choreographed by Wayne McGregor.

Renowned British choreographer Wayne McGregor invited electronic musician Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) to compose the score for his contemporary dance performance piece Autobiography after the two met in 2016. Patton had always wanted to attend a dance performance, but never dreamt that she would end up providing the music for one, and that it would be the first one she ever witnessed. Up until Autobiography, Jlin had become known for making highly frenetic tracks which focused almost entirely on percussion and bass, with barely any melodic elements and a limited number of vocal samples.

This quote, from a 2015 Pitchfork interview, is typical Jlin . The innovative producer has consistently spoken about the cathartic personal interrogation that informs her music, creating from a place far beyond her comfort zone. Her signature sound, however, speaks for itself. Last year's Black Origami, a seething body of protean percussion studies, spliced dark, aggressive urgency with unshackled ecstasy, building on her alchemic mutation of footwork embodied in 2015 debut, Dark Energy.

Jlin's Autobiography is a contradictory beast. It is, technically, the Gary, Indiana, producer's third album, following 2015's Dark Energy and 2017's Black Origami, although the label and the artist herself are framing it as a collaborative work that sits outside of this timeline. Meanwhile, the title refers not to Jlin's life but to that of Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne McGregor, who commissioned Autobiography to soundtrack his high-concept dance piece of the same name.

As if 'Black Origami' wasn't enough, Jlin has once more illustrated a frighteningly beautiful vision of forward thinking sound. Blending elements of footwork, noise, broken beat, neo-classical and experimental, the Indiana artist has crafted the sound of a far out utopia, inhabited with fear, euphoria, bliss and anxiety. 'Annotation' is a real treat, with it's anxiety riddled synths and scattering drum patterns, as is 'The Abyss Of Doubt', a track that would make the most content of people want to revolt.